Synopses & Reviews
In August 2003, at the age of thirty, Rory Stewart took a taxi from Jordan to Baghdad. A Farsi-speaking British diplomat who had recently completed an epic walk from Turkey to Bangladesh, he was soon appointed deputy governor of Amarah and then Nasiriyah, provinces in the remote, impoverished marsh regions of southern Iraq. He spent the next eleven months negotiating hostage releases, holding elections, and splicing together some semblance of an infrastructure for a population of millions teetering on the brink of civil war.
The Prince of the Marshes tells the story of Stewart's year. As a participant he takes us inside the occupation and beyond the Green Zone, introducing us to a colorful cast of Iraqis and revealing the complexity and fragility of a society we struggle to understand. By turns funny and harrowing, moving and incisive, it amounts to a unique portrait of heroism and the tragedy that intervention inevitably courts in the modern age.
Review
"Stewart was able to forge strong bonds with individual Arabs, and his description of his personal relations form the core of an interesting look at a region of Iraq rarely covered in the mass media." Booklist
Review
"Despite its exotic setting, the story is strangely familiar. Will reward readers interested in the Iraq war, or disaster management, or anyone interested in taking an intelligent adventure." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
RORY STEWART is the bestselling author of The Places in Between andandnbsp;The Prince of the Marshes. A former director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy andandnbsp;Ryan Professor of Human Rights atandnbsp;Harvardand#39;s Kennedy School of Government, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services in Iraq.andnbsp;Heandnbsp;is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border, a constituency in Northern Cumbria, where he lives with his wife.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword
Dramatis Personae
Timeline
Introduction
Capitalist-Imperialist-Crusader
Waking Up Dead
Mordor
Part One: The Prince of the Marshes
The British Camp
Regeneration
The General
Civil Affairs
Persia
Ice Cream
Baklava
Pagoda
The Supervisory Committee
High Command
Part Two: Death of a Hero
Friday Prayers
And Would Not Stay for an Answer
Resolutions
Blood Money
Resignation
Summit
and#160;
Part Three: Iraqi Pastoral
Al-Mutanabi Street
Rural Rides
Deputy
The Paths That Lead to Destruction
Import Substitution Industrialization
Jobs
Mutiny
Sheikhs
Precautions
The Islamic Call
Sadrines
Majority and Minority
Poet
Our Successors
Departures
Trust
A New Chief
Death by the Office Wall
Credibility
and#160;
Part Four: Nasiriyah
Arrivals
Morning Meeting
A Second Governor
Sage of the Assembly
Mudhif
Ali Zeidi
Police
Echoes from the Frontiers
Kidnapped
Rewarding Friends
Foreign Elements
Return to the Green Zone
The Rule of Law
Part Five: Besieged
The Quick Reaction Force
Kabul
Reprise
Final Days
Leaders
Last Days in Amara
Handing Over
Afterword
Acknowledgments